Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mock Milk Gravy
Ingredients
Directions
Dissolve the peanut butter in the water in a double boiler.
Cook for one hour.
Rub the flour smooth in a little cold water and add it to the mixture.
Season with salt and cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Peanut + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,427 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Peanut + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,754 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Peanut butter
- Provides the body, nutty flavor and richness that define the gravy.
- White flour
- Thickens the liquid as its starch swells with heat, giving the gravy body.
The step that matters
Adding the flour mixture. Flour lumps if added dry or unsmoothed. Rubbing it smooth in cold water first lets the starch disperse evenly, so it thickens the gravy without clumping.
Swap the peanut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Macadamia nutfits better
- Cashew nutfits better
- Peanutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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